Social Media Marketing

Here’s a fun fact for the day: according to Mark Risher, chief executive of anti-spam company Impermium, as many as 40 percent of active social media accounts have been flagged as spammers. In total, approximately 8 percent of status updates, tweets and other social content is counted as spam.

While the battle still rages on as to what role social media plays in lead generation and engagement, new data suggests that Twitter may be more than worth the budget it’s allocated when it comes to leads. Research from Optify suggests that Twitter tops all other social media websites for generating new leads and engaging old ones – at least for B2B brands. If you’re running a B2B company, it might be time to rethink how you’re tweeting.

When it comes to social media, Google has a spotty track record. Orkut, one of the company’s first attempts at breaking into the social media landscape, has managed to accrue only 33 million users in the past decade and remains popular in just a few markets throughout the world. Google Buzz was an unmitigated disaster, criticized from its launch due to the missing privacy options and the lack of Google’s trademark innovation.

How many people really seek out your brand’s social media page? The answer may be more than you expect: According to a new report from researcher Ipsos OTX, as many as 54 percent of Millennials actually visit a company’s social media page for one reason or another. If social media has never traditionally been a focus of your multichannel marketing campaigns, now may be the time to rethink the channel’s involvement.

Email marketing is still one of the most commonly used lead generation tools. According to data collected by Marketing Sherpa, a whopping four-fifths of businesses (81 percent) still make heavy use of email as a lead generation tool. In fact, it was ranked first out of all the personal advertising channels used.

The age of digital communication has greatly expedited the pace of marketing campaigns. Now, companies are looking for real-time analytics and data that enables them to fine-tune initiatives almost instantly. Additionally, consumers expect faster responses from marketing and sales teams, regardless of whether they are using social media, email or any other digital channel.

The number of consumers using Facebook as their primary means of interacting with brands is increasing. If companies are looking to maximize their brand management efforts, they need to not only have a presence on the social network, but they also need to actively engage prospects and customers.